Article Tools

Upwards of 60 people gathered at the Metropolitan Transit District offices this week to hear how up to $12,500 in state and federal rebates will be available to people purchasing electric cars such as the Chevrolet Volt or the Nissan Leaf. They also heard from private energy company representatives how fueling stations, capable of recharging an electric vehicle in 30 minutes, will soon be a reality. In the meantime, electric-car owners can charge their vehicles at home, a process that, depending on the car’s make and the owner’s home electric system, often takes all night. Utility company representatives said they’d set up late-night billing systems just to reward electric car owners with premium rates.

Comments

Actually, our local electrical grid here contains only 8% coal, is half natural gas, and around 17% renewable energy, like geothermal, wind and solar. See asset.sce.com/Documents/About%20SCE/08April_PowerContentLabel.pdf

The state is set to double the renewable energy in our mix to 33% by 2020, while phasing out coal. So electric vehicles here aren't coal-powered, and actually get cleaner as they age, rather than dirtier as tends to happen with internal combustion engines.....

Also, the two new electric vehicles on the market, Nissan's LEAF and the GM Volt get around 100 mpg.

Most inspiring is that many EV owners also have solar panels, so they are driving on sunshine!

There are lots of misconceptions about electric vehicles out there. I urge interested people to do their own research.